Not Simple

“We tend to think if we send teachers off to a two day workshop magically they’ll come back to the classroom and be able to do something different that will impact the lives of children.”

Dr. Jennie Snyder, deputy superintendent for instructional services for the Sonoma County Office of Education and longtime educator, talks to Wendy about enacting change in education and the difference made by approaching things with a spirit of experimentation and curiosity.

"There is so much emergent change that’s happening around us, so we need every piece of this human condition to be able to be okay and to thrive and to be resilient."


Dr. Ciela Hartanov is the founder of humcollective, and her book, Reclaiming Sensitivity, will be out in the new year. She and Wendy discuss how we have oversimplified the idea of sensitivity and what we may gain by embracing it in all of its complexity and messiness.

“We try to help people ask additional questions, to say ‘How might I work differently than Wendy and how can I take a couple of steps to be closer to where she is so that our differences can be strengths?’”

Parker Mitchell is the founder of Valence, a software company specializing in building stronger teams. He joined Wendy to talk about teamwork—especially how to help individuals work with a wider diversity of styles and approaches.

“The world doesn’t allow a lot of room for messiness these days, as messy as the world is.”

Sarah Dasher is a communications professional, a college professor, and a person living in recovery. She and Rebecca talk about the dual issues of stigma and disclosure for people in recovery—and living with chronic illness.

"Every moment in my life where I’ve learned some massive truth or had some big epiphany has always been in some small group or coffee shop experience. Human connection is ridiculously important to me."

TJ Fairchild, founder and CEO of Commonplace Coffee, has a mission to create environments that foster human connection. He and Wendy discuss the many things that go into running a successful, purposeful business.

“The world demands that all leaders be inclusive leaders. If we’re not leading inclusively, we’re really not leading in some crucial dimension.”

Not Simple welcomed Cultivating Leadership colleague and founder of Flourishing Gays Dominic Longo to discuss how organizations compartmentalize leadership development and Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion efforts and to consider what happens when individuals step fully into who they are as humans and leaders.

“I see democracy as a reflection of and a demonstration of how much we value each other as human beings. And in that light, it is very relational. It is very interdependent.”

Not Simple welcomes back Greg Thomas and Jewel Kinch-Thomas of The Jazz Leadership Project and executive coach Amiel Handelsman to talk about all the things democracy entails beyond voting.

Learn more about their upcoming course, Stepping Up - Wrestling with America’s Past, Reimagining Its Future, Healing Together here.

“As women, when you carry a daughter, you’re also carrying your grandchildren… so having a quality experience of pregnancy will impact two generations down the line.”

Kerry Arabena is the Managing Director of First 1000 Days Australia, which focuses on a child’s first 1000 days, from preconception to age two, as a way of strengthening Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander families. She came to Not Simple with infectious joy and an abundance of complexities, including modern matriarchy, intergenerational trauma, the undervalued role of men in families, and so much more.

“You don’t always know exactly what to expect, but you know that everyone is bringing their best to that moment and so then what is created is something that is reflective of all of those bests coming together."

Jewel Kinch-Thomas and Greg Thomas are the co-founders of the Jazz Leadership Project, which uses the principles and practices of jazz to help companies and individuals work better. They’re tired of people minimizing jazz's importance with phrases like "Jazz is just... " and spend their half hour with Wendy uncovering the many, many things jazz is and does.

“We are the largest incarcerator in the world. That is our response to everything. I think it is the place where we cannot afford to oversimplify anymore.”

Monica Hopkins is the executive director of the ACLU of the District of Columbia, and she came to Not Simple to talk about the US criminal justice system. What unfolded was a conversation about culture clashes, unpacking our reactions to behavior we don't understand, and the value of knowing our neighbors.